National City mulls sale to rival

I am a republican that voted against bush, and I can’t stand much of what he has done- but BUSH is NOT responsible for the economy going into recession. I don’t mean to personally attack this poster, but it reinforces the idea that some people maybe shouldn’t be in the voter pool, or it’s partisan politics taken too far.

I know that there is a deposit limit nationwide, but a post suggests there is a local limit. Am I reading that right?

If NCC lays off all cleveland workers, how much is that in proportion of NCC workers nationwide? Also, of those workers, how many have mortages and helocs from NCC? It may be miniscule, I’m just curious how much damage they will cause themselves at least temporarily if they lay off a lot of these workers.

NCB will either continue to struggle, be chopped up and parcelled off or become a ’service’ bank of some foreign owner… Cleveland currently is an economic nightmare in the area of real estate. If NCB falls, Key would soon follow. Ive been a transplant here in the #2 banking center in USA, Charlotte NC. If Bank of America or Wachovia buys NCB they will FOR SURE layoff virtually everyone in Cleveland or offer a low paying teller position in its new branch… Ive seen it happen time n time again. The #2 and #4 BANKS ARE ALL ABOUT BUSINESS. They would love to expand, im sure…But Cleveland…? Its an economically depressed area, step son of the auto industry and a kissing cousin of Detroit. Anyway, if Key does buy NCB, some jobs may stay, but in the end, Wachovia or Bank of America could by them both and add to a higher jobless rate that Cleveland does not need!

i work at national city. there are 14 branches in our city, and a fifth third is basically RIGHT next to each national city, do u think if fifth third buys us we will lose our jobs? I mean some of the branches will have to close, i mean they are RIGHT next door to each other….

Fifth Third is horrible to work for. They treat their employees like dirt. I worked for them and then moved over to National City. It would be a shame to see a Cleveland icon like NCB go. They are the last remaining original bank from Cleveland. Key is from Albany. Do you think Fifth Third will keep jobs in Cleveland or move them to Cincinnati? Cleveland is hurting so bad it can not afford to have 6,000 + more jobs lost—

Wow, after reading these posts I may actually be dumber. The president causes recessions and corporate mergers. That is fantastic fodder. The fact is Key is strong enough to acquire sections of NCC, let’s just hope they are smart enough not to. NCC has 4 options (and these are in order based on opinion). Survive on its own, sell to a foreign bank, sell to a major US bank entering the Midwest market (Wells Fargo), or be chopped up into little pieces at which point anything goes. These options are also listed in order regarding job loss, that last option being the worst. There is only one market where a Key-NCC merger would violate the H-H index and that is the Cleveland market. That particular situation would not stop the approval of this merger, it would just mean branch and deposit sell-off. 35% my friends, that is the magic deposit number. Look for 1800 and 35%, if you don’t know what these mean then your opinions are kind of baseless.

Personally, I believe banks are headed into their own real estate crisis. As technology continues, we will reach a point where the billions of $’s in branch offices will become obsolete and surplus. We should expect to see small, stand-alone electronic banking locations with no human intervention other than reloading or repair personnel. I would expect to see bank’s personnel requirements drop dramatically over the next 10 - 20 years.

As long as I still have a job I do not care who signs my paycheck!

Jeff,

This recession has little to do with Bush and more to do with a domino effect of several different bubbles. When Clinton was in office we fought off a dot com bubble bursting which threw us in to a recession. The housing market is what pulled us back up. Now this bubble has burst and there is not another one to hold up the economy. This really has nothing to do with what party is in office right now. This has been coming for a long time. Actually what needs to happen is these banks need to fail and some consumers need to be let go as well. If we do not let that stuff happen we are prolonging the cycle. As a Sr. Analyst for US Bank (one of the few solid banks) I have watched this build in our financial sector for some time. The only fix is to “trim the fat”. That may sound harsh but it must happen or we are heading for a very long and rocky road no matter who gets in office!

This comment is for everyone who may be ignorant in thinking a “president” is causing the recession. You’re logically deficient in thinking one man can control the USA economy. It takes the combination of the private sector along with the government regulations that get us to where we are in this near recession. So, please keep your ignorrant mouth shut if you are illinformed or making a statement based on political vomit.

No corporate mergers eh? That’s dumb. And blaming Bush for corporate mergers is rediculous. He has NOTHING to do with them. Bad banking is to blame. I’m also in the industry and am happy to see corporate mergers as it has gotten out of hand. Find a new skill set and move on.

Why are there now more banks than gas stations or Fast Food places??? I see 2 or 3 banks on corners like you used to see gas stations. In my opinion, there are too many banks and WAY TOO MANY bankers.

It is time to put a stop to cororate mergers/acquisitions. They only thing they do is eliminate jobs and lie to employees/governments, and then are not held accountable.Cleveland’s economy has already been devasted by outsourcing, plant shutdowns and corporate mergers/acquisitions. You can’t find a banking job in Cleveland. My wife has lost 3 banking jobs due to mergers and is working in retail for practically nothing. Citizens Bank of Rhode Island(RBS) purchased Charter One several years ago, which forced me to leave banking. I saw hundreds of my friends and coworkers jobs eliminated or forced out by lack of income. Somebody needs to stand up for employees rights. Under Bush’s government for and by the corporations, the employee has been forgotten or sent to India. We will see a depression thanks to Mr Bush. I called the current recession that no one will admit to 3 years ago. Incomes are not going up, they are being eliminated and declining thanks to our wonderful war mongering leader.

Bankers? NCC oficials and Directors are ditch diggers when it comes to running a bank, Throw the bums out,

Go Tribe

That would be devastating to the Cleveland economy! Key is not big enough to take on NCC. But then you never know!

What a terrible idea. A combined Key-NCC would have to sell off a huge number of branches just to get through DoJ and the FTC. The problem is not that Ohio has too many banks in the market - the problem is that NCC is a basket case, and Key’s not exactly the strongest dance partner. NCC needs to look outside the Ohio region. Merging with Key is more like combining the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads into the Penn Central, and we all know where that ended up.

As for the few comments yesterday saying that the sale talk was a little premature. Whenever an investment bank steps in for “advice” I believe the next words in that sentence should be “about a sale”. Where there is advice there usually is a sale.